The jihadist nuclear scientist who shared secrets with rogue states has been pardoned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. This from AFP:
Pakistan's president said he had pardoned the founder of the country's nuclear programme, who has confessed to leaking nuclear secrets abroad."I give him pardon," President Pervez Musharraf told a news conference on Thursday, a day after Abdul Qadeer Khan's dramatic televised confession.
Khan admitted leaking secrets and begged for forgiveness following a lengthy investigation into the alleged transfer of nuclear techology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Musharraf called the scientist a "national hero" for bringing the bomb to Pakistan, but said he had made "mistakes".
Responding to a question, he said Pakistan will not share documents with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which passed on the information that launched the investigation.
He also said that Pakistan will not allow the United Nations to inspect its nuclear facilities.
I'm glad that's all cleared up.
Gary, lol..
Reminds me of the Woody Allen comedy "Bananas", except this one is real and scary as hell.
Judging from letters to the editor in the Arab News, a lot of Pakistanis regard Khan as a national hero and do not see anything wrong with leaking secrets to other Muslim countries - although they are a little puzzled with the inclusion of North Korea.
Politically, Musharraf didn't have much choice.
jay
You left out Musharraf's most interesting comments- namely that he was ashamed that fellow Muslim countries, Libya and Iran, had squealed and revealed their records to the infidel U.N. thus implicating Pakistan.
For that unIslamic behavior, I imagine he'll make Iran wait at least a week before sending more blueprints.
Basically, Musharraf had no choice. The leading Islamicist political leaders explained to him that there must be no consequence to Kahn for his treason. The pardon is evidence that Musharraf is out of moves. The United States understands this, which is why we have seen no criticism of the pardon from the Bush Administration. My guess is that Musharraf traded the pardon for detailed intelligence about Kahn's dealings, and mollifed the U.S. by turning that information over to us. Nevertheles, watch for the U.S. to take the war into northwest Pakistan before the end of the year, if not before the election.